The Way Of Story

Writing is a powerful tool of self-exploration. The soul of story—a combination of craft and magic—is a uniting of head and heart.

Investigate the dimensions of your creativity with Catherine Ann Jones, a master of depth psychology and archetypal mythology with years of experience writing for stage and screen. This five-day workshop offers an integrative approach to writing narrative, combining storytelling with personal discovery.
Through experiential practices you will:

Explore the seven steps of story structure

Learn how to create memorable characters and shape dialogue

Hone your ability to tell stories that have impact and resonance

Uncover the art of balancing craft with intuition.

Come away feeling equipped and inspired to create stories that enlighten and empower. This workshop is for writers of all levels and narrative forms, including plays, screenplays, stories, novels, and memoirs.

Catherine Ann Jones

Program Description

Writing is a powerful tool of self-exploration. The soul of story—a combination of craft and magic—is a uniting of head and heart.

Investigate the dimensions of your creativity with Catherine Ann Jones, a master of depth psychology and archetypal mythology with years of experience writing for stage and screen. This five-day workshop offers an integrative approach to writing narrative, combining storytelling with personal discovery.
Through experiential practices you will:

Explore the seven steps of story structure

Learn how to create memorable characters and shape dialogue

Hone your ability to tell stories that have impact and resonance

Uncover the art of balancing craft with intuition.

Come away feeling equipped and inspired to create stories that enlighten and empower. This workshop is for writers of all levels and narrative forms, including plays, screenplays, stories, novels, and memoirs.

Faculty Bio

Catherine Ann Jones is an award-winning playwright, author, and screenwriter. After playing major roles in more than 50 plays on and off Broadway, she grew disappointed by the lack of strong roles for women and wrote a play, On the Edge, about Virginia Woolf and her struggle with madness in a world gone mad, Hitler, and WWII. The play won a National Endowment for the Arts Award.

Twelve of her plays, including Calamity Jane (both play and musical), The Women of Cedar Creek, and Freud’s Oracle, have won multiple awards and are produced both in and out of New York. Her films include The Christmas Wife (with Jason Robards and Julie Harris), Unlikely Angel (with Dolly Parton), and the popular TV series, Touched by an Angel. She has received four Emmy nominations.

Catherine holds a graduate degree in depth psychology and archetypal mythology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she has also served on the faculty. She also studied shamanism in India as a Fulbright Scholar. Her books, The Way of Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing, Heal Your Self with Writing, What Story Are You Living?, and Freud’s Oracle: A Play Based on the Life of H.D. are taught in numerous schools, including at New York University writing programs.

Based in Ojai, California, Catherine leads The Way of Story and Heal Your Self with Writing workshops throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and writing consultant.

Why Attend

Learn practices to hone your skills and provoke deep inner discovery, taking your work—old, new, and yet to be written—to a new level.

Catherine’s mastery is rare. Learn from an award-winning playwright, author, and screenwriter whose teaching is enriched by a powerful balance of technical, historical, and spiritual guidance and expertise.

Take your storytelling beyond the level of entertainment: learn how to heal yourself and others by putting pen to the page.